The safest friends are the ones you can say “I’m actually not okay” to without it becoming a whole event.

Safety in a friendship is measured by what you can say without it becoming a production. Some people meet honesty with panic, advice, or a story about themselves, so you learn to hand them the smooth version. With others you can say the flat true sentence and the ground stays level.

Think about who you would tell on a bad day, and whether that list is shorter than you expected. Try one plain sentence with one of them this week. Be that steady person for someone else too, which is mostly a matter of not overreacting.